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Ft. Hood Victims to get Purple Hearts
- Thread starter Bevo16
- Start date
I can't disagree with the sentiment, but doesn't really seem to hold water practically. The Ft Hood victims were victims of a criminal act by an American serviceman on US soil. I don't know that what was in his head at the time necessarily makes theirs combat injuries.
Is there any precedent for this? What happened to the victims of that shooter in Little Rock or those 101st AB officers who were fragged in Iraq before OIF I?
Is there any precedent for this? What happened to the victims of that shooter in Little Rock or those 101st AB officers who were fragged in Iraq before OIF I?
Military members killed in the 9-11 attacks were given PH's. I can personally guarantee that both of the incidents that you mentioned are being investgated as I type. The end result might be that they do get PH's if they have not already gotten them.
Where do you draw the line? Who was attacked by the enemy and who was attacked by a deranged military service member? What if 2 guys get drunk at a bar and beat the shit outta each other? Taking it to an extreme, I know, but the question still stands.
No.
Currently, the policy guidelines for awarding a PH are set by a mix of public law and executive orders. This is simply another (would be) public law to clear up a grey area and address a specific instance. POTUS could simply issue another executive order and give the medals if he wanted to (not saying he doesn't want to, this was just done on the initiative of the senators who sponsor the bill).
You don't exactly need x-ray vision to see some of the politics behind the proposed law. President signs this bill, he pretty much admits that it was domestic terrorism. President does not sign the bill, he is a cold-hearted MO-FO who does not care about the troops or their families.
Sometimes it seems like the key to becoming successful in Washington is being able to stick your finger in someone's eye while looking like a nice guy in the process. Being able to do it to someone more powerful than you gets bonus points.
These sorts of questions will probably continue to pop up as this "war" continues. Ostensibly though, a purple heart is awarded for "being wounded or killed in any action against the enemy" or as a result of the enemy's actions. Was this guy "the enemy?" For some reason, that's a political question...
That's because war by it's very nature is political.SkywardET said:
Is this the part where I get to quote von Clausewitz? a la Denzel Washington in Crimson Tide?
'War is a continuation of politics by other means.'
Only if you've read On War.
Still working on 'The Art of' before I get to 'On'.
Plenty of titles to plow through, after all.
Nah. Looking at the awards manual alone, if their OIC's had put them in for PH's I'd say "it would take an act of Congress." Well...yup.
The bill is too narrow, and uses a really terrible precedent. The precedent that it sites was covered already under pre-existing eligibility requirements "as a result of international terrorist attack against the US...". This incident isn't covered under that eligibility requirement. The fellow that did the killing isn't an international terrorist any more than you or I. He is a disturbed service member.
The bill would have to make "as a result of domestic terrorist attack against the US..." a PH eligibility requirement in order for it to not look illegitimate which Congress probably wouldn't do. And even then, this Major Nidal Malik Hasan is only VERY loosely covered under anybody's definition of terrorism. I would go so far as to say it wasn't a terrorist act at all, further rendering Congress's precedent worthless.
I do however like the exception at the end of the bill which would keep the cocksucker from also getting a Purple Heart.
It wasn't an incident of terrorism. It was an incident of a disturbed service member, that the press said "Hey, army + officer + psychological + kill only gives us a week to profit off of this. I know, add the words terror and muslim to it, we can run that shit for a month."
